Cockpuncher to the Stars:Daniel Boone was anti-slavery, and did a lot to convince the politicians of his day to treat the Indians fairly (or what passed for fairly back then). Also, his sister was my something-great grandmother. (Legit, my grandmother spent her 20 year retirement doing a genealogy at a level of detail that would give ancestry.com the shiats. I don't know how many greats because I can't be arsed to go downstairs and look it up.) I don't think he wore a coon-skin cap. I thought that was Crocket, that asshole.

My wife is actually in the same boat you are. My family is always tracing lines via genealogy and my wife's mother actually has documentation stating they are related to Daniel Boone directly via one of his daughters. I would have to call my mother in law to find out how many times out they are but its very interesting to hear stories like this.

I don't find the mascot very offensive and people really need to relax and go on with life and enjoy the things that are truly important.

Culturally, however, they may have been very different but certainly they were no less sophisticated. Indeed, if one judges a culture by its social conscience, harmony with its living environment and equality of living standards across its demographics, they were way ahead of any of the Euro-Trash that paddled across the Pond to settle the "new" world.

/"skin cap" was the common nomenclature of the time for "condom". A "Boone-skin cap" was a special prophylactic invented by Boone himself, which he made from stretched bear skin. Nothing closer to bare skin than bear skin, as he liked to say.

//and indeed, he had to kill many bears to make his skin caps, for Daniel Boone was a man. He was a BIIIIIIIG man...

"Mythology and Fess Parker aside, it is well documented that Daniel Boone never wore a coonskin cap. Neither did he wear a beard. Moreover, any exploits by him west of Missouri are speculative at best."

According to the easily accessed Wiki, it's because......

Boone was portrayed this way because Fess Parker, the tall actor who played Boone, was essentially reprising his role as Davy Crockett from an earlier TV series. That Boone could be portrayed the same way as Crockett, another American frontiersman with a very different persona, was another example of how Boone's image could be reshaped to suit popular tastes.

Or to put it another way, it's an example of how lazy TV producers and actors are. "Hey Fess, we need you to play another frontiersman, Daniel Boone." "Boone? Is he like Davy Crockett?" "Oh, yeah, just whip out the buckskin suit, coonskin cap, the kids'll never know the difference!" disregarding the fact that they were separated by about 70 years and 1500 miles, among other things.

The All-Powerful Atheismo:"Later, his image and legend fell victim to revisionist ACTUAL history as he became associated with the forceful displacement of Native Americans from their land."

fark you fox news.

I guess you never saw this documentary about him. His best friend was Indian.

Okay, so it probably wasn't very historically accurate but he was adopted into the Shawnee tribe (according to Wikipedia). I actually read a biography about him about 40 years ago, but I remember the TV show better.

One point that is made in the show though is accurate is that not all Indians were the same. A lot of people today seem to not understand that.

And no, I don't believe that mascot pictured was supposed to be Daniel Boone.

The reason this is a story (and an ongoing one at that) is that many (not all) of the students and alumni made an effort completely independent of university support to bring back Boone as the mascot after they decided to scrap Ruckus. The University hated it but the alums, fans and students put a lot of effort into the Boone mascot including privately fundraising for a costume and flying out the kid who was inside it to mascot camp so that we would have a mascot. When they went to the NCAA Semifinals in lacrosse, Boone was front and center on ESPN bringing visibility to the University and a lot of free press which generated a lot of internet traffic and probably quite a few kids who ended up eventually enrolling in the university.The issue that the pro-Boone supporters have with all of this is that as students and alumni they feel that the University constantly ignores their wishes and basically views us all as wallets that they can pull money from whenever they need it without valuing the people that made DU what it is today. Since the Boone movement started, applications are up, enrollment is up, attendance at sporting events is up and the general visibility of the university has increased throughout both the region and nationwide. Yet through all of this, the board of trustees and the powers that be at the University consistently ignore the pro-Boone faction yet expect that we'll pony up money whenever they feel they need or want it. To me, this was never about Boone but it was about a University that has basically treated its students and alumni as an afterthought at best and an inconvenience at worst.

FloydA:What's amazing to me is that Fox News has so little actual news to worry about that they are reduced to trying to gin up poutrage that some unknown small college changed its mascot 15 years ago.

Nice work, GOP-TV, I'm sure Reagan would be proud.

Read this and tell me that the University of Denver is "small" and "unknown."

orangehat:The reason this is a story (and an ongoing one at that) is that many (not all) of the students and alumni made an effort completely independent of university support to bring back Boone as the mascot after they decided to scrap Ruckus. The University hated it but the alums, fans and students put a lot of effort into the Boone mascot including privately fundraising for a costume and flying out the kid who was inside it to mascot camp so that we would have a mascot. When they went to the NCAA Semifinals in lacrosse, Boone was front and center on ESPN bringing visibility to the University and a lot of free press which generated a lot of internet traffic and probably quite a few kids who ended up eventually enrolling in the university.The issue that the pro-Boone supporters have with all of this is that as students and alumni they feel that the University constantly ignores their wishes and basically views us all as wallets that they can pull money from whenever they need it without valuing the people that made DU what it is today. Since the Boone movement started, applications are up, enrollment is up, attendance at sporting events is up and the general visibility of the university has increased throughout both the region and nationwide. Yet through all of this, the board of trustees and the powers that be at the University consistently ignore the pro-Boone faction yet expect that we'll pony up money whenever they feel they need or want it. To me, this was never about Boone but it was about a University that has basically treated its students and alumni as an afterthought at best and an inconvenience at worst.

I always thought college administration was all about holding a vote and then promptly ignoring the results of that vote.

I went to a college that built a new student union, but instead of naming the building beforehand, they named it the 'Student Activities Center' as a placeholder. Which of course you refer to as 'The SAC' a year and a half later voting is held for a building that clearly already has a name, and we're told that 'The STU' (for student union) won the naming contest. Come on now, knowing that the first nickname, and the option of just naming it after the old building were both on the table, do you really think I'm going to believe that 'The STU' won the vote administration????

That being said if administrations didn't rule by fiat every school would have marijuana listed as their class flower or whatever every year for about 10 years straight.

Kansas State University did something like this a few years ago. She was called the "Eco-cat"; short for ecosystem cat. Imagine batgirl; but purple and instead of fighting crime; she stood in favor of protecting trees and fuzzy animals.

She lasted a grand total of one game before the university decided that their decision making process had been mocked quite enough.

Radioactive Ass:Prophet of Loss: In high school I worked at a Carl's Jr. as an assistant manager. We kept getting an application for "Daniel Boone" that we kept tossing it along with the other joke applications we got on a regular basis. Well one day, this kid and his mom come in furious demanding to know why we never contact her son. (It was a different time.) Turns out, the kid's name really was "Daniel Boone" and was in fact a distant ancestor of the famous explorer.

Well? Did he get the interview?

DID HE GET THE FARKING INTERVIEW?

DID HE?

You can't leave us hanging like that Cool Story Bro guy

/Bro's don't do that...

We hired him. He was a bit of a dweeb, but not a bad guy. Only worked the summer then quit without notice, IRRC. Probably off to explore someplace in a red shirt, apron, and viser.

The real story was the ex-con we hired who tried to "bulldog" me (his boss) for money and then tried to play it off like he was "playing" (I was 15, he was in his early 20s) when I refused. One day cops showed up while he was working (not because of me) and led him away in cuffs. We never saw him again.

Its was a hell job, but was quite the adventure for a naive teenager. Got laid for the 1st time at the co-worker's party that summer.

Highroller48:JesusJuice: I don't see why some people are so offended by references to US expansion just because of the Indians. They were technologically and culturally unsophisticated and were naturally displaced by those who were not. This has happened countless times throughout history, and nobody owes anybody an apology for it.

CULTURALLY unsophisticated? Ummm, no.

They were out-gunned, yes. They were susceptible to being victimized by a capitalism they had never encountered, and they were totally unprepared for the effect that europeanization of the territory would have on their way of life.

Culturally, however, they may have been very different but certainly they were no less sophisticated. Indeed, if one judges a culture by its social conscience, harmony with its living environment and equality of living standards across its demographics, they were way ahead of any of the Euro-Trash that paddled across the Pond to settle the "new" world.

Never encountering profit motive is a huge myth, my friend. You also might want to do some research on equality across demographics. They tended to kill people from other tribal demographics

JSam21:What I find offensive is that the head of the school used the term "persons of color" in the story.

Reading up on Denver University, it becomes obvious that their chancellor, Robert Coombe, is the only one who is "offended" by this mascot. This sorry bastard's religion is political correctness and his apparent aim is to make all of his students suck the dick of diversity. He actually has a "diversity statement" on his Chancellor bio, and most of the news stories about him are about him protecting minorities from being insulted. Here's one from last year over reacting to a "Cowboys and Indians" themed sorority party. Link

EdNortonsTwin : How about the Denver University Hermaphrodites. Have them mixed race and that way we won't offend *cough* anyone.

orangehat:FloydA: What's amazing to me is that Fox News has so little actual news to worry about that they are reduced to trying to gin up poutrage that some unknown small college changed its mascot 15 years ago.

Nice work, GOP-TV, I'm sure Reagan would be proud.

Read this and tell me that the University of Denver is "small" and "unknown."

Prophet of Loss:Turns out, the kid's name really was "Daniel Boone" and was in fact a distant ancestor of the famous explorer.

Wow, so this "kid" who was turning in applications was Daniel Boone's ancestor, meaning he would have been about...oh, what, about 200 years old. And his mom was still alive too. She must have been pretty wrinkly.

varmitydog:JSam21: What I find offensive is that the head of the school used the term "persons of color" in the story.

Reading up on Denver University, it becomes obvious that their chancellor, Robert Coombe, is the only one who is "offended" by this mascot. This sorry bastard's religion is political correctness and his apparent aim is to make all of his students suck the dick of diversity. He actually has a "diversity statement" on his Chancellor bio, and most of the news stories about him are about him protecting minorities from being insulted. Here's one from last year over reacting to a "Cowboys and Indians" themed sorority party. Link

EdNortonsTwin : How about the Denver University Hermaphrodites. Have them mixed race and that way we won't offend *cough* anyone.

Yeah, bet you this guy would go for that.[image.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com image 800x533]

You both seem to have a pretty accurate perception of him...if Coombe and the rest of the powers that be would just get out of their own way there is no limit to how successful their tenure running the University could be. The Cowboys and Indians thing was stupid and he was right to call out the people involved but the Boone thing is a small minority of students and faculty dictating their demands to a bunch of people who actually donate to the University and actually attend events during their time as students and after they graduate. I would bet that the donations from the pro-Boone alumni far outweigh the anti-Boone alumni even with a lot of alumni withholding donations or using that money for things specifically earmarked for things that the board of trustees have no control over.

SevenizGud:Prophet of Loss: Turns out, the kid's name really was "Daniel Boone" and was in fact a distant ancestor of the famous explorer.

Wow, so this "kid" who was turning in applications was Daniel Boone's ancestor, meaning he would have been about...oh, what, about 200 years old. And his mom was still alive too. She must have been pretty wrinkly.

Hey, I was 15 yr. old kid with way too much responsibility being yelled at by some spittle furious overbearing mama bear. I'd agree he was the 2nd coming of Jebus if it got the biatch out of my face. Besides, we needed people ASAP after a couple (literal "couple") of employees had a rather dramatic fight at work, broke up, and quit on the spot.

Dow Jones and the Temple of Doom:JesusJuice: I don't see why some people are so offended by references to US expansion just because of the Indians. They were technologically and culturally unsophisticated and were naturally displaced by those who were not. This has happened countless times throughout history, and nobody owes anybody an apology for it.

The myth of the noble savage is alive and well in academia.

One of the most pernicious lies ever foisted upon us. i say we change to this Hans Sprungfeld fellow, he seems much more honest.

Fano:Dow Jones and the Temple of Doom: JesusJuice: I don't see why some people are so offended by references to US expansion just because of the Indians. They were technologically and culturally unsophisticated and were naturally displaced by those who were not. This has happened countless times throughout history, and nobody owes anybody an apology for it.

The myth of the noble savage is alive and well in academia.

One of the most pernicious lies ever foisted upon us. i say we change to this Hans Sprungfeld fellow, he seems much more honest.

Actually, I'd go with American Exceptionalism as the biggest lie ever told, and still being told and believed today. Yes sir. We licked those hoidy toidy British, backwards natives and evil Nazis because we're just so gosh darn freakin' awesome.

JesusJuice:I don't see why some people are so offended by references to US expansion just because of the Indians. They were technologically and culturally unsophisticated and were naturally displaced by those who were not. This has happened countless times throughout history, and nobody owes anybody an apology for it.

Of course, by the time he crossed Cumberland Gap, most of the natives from there to the Mississippi were dead from smallpox and measles.

Persnickety:Fano: Dow Jones and the Temple of Doom: JesusJuice: I don't see why some people are so offended by references to US expansion just because of the Indians. They were technologically and culturally unsophisticated and were naturally displaced by those who were not. This has happened countless times throughout history, and nobody owes anybody an apology for it.

The myth of the noble savage is alive and well in academia.

One of the most pernicious lies ever foisted upon us. i say we change to this Hans Sprungfeld fellow, he seems much more honest.

Actually, I'd go with American Exceptionalism as the biggest lie ever told, and still being told and believed today. Yes sir. We licked those hoidy toidy British, backwards natives and evil Nazis because we're just so gosh darn freakin' awesome.

Yes, but The Noble Savage infested all of western CIv with the notion that impoverished natives the world over are wise and better morally than anything else.

Let's ask the nice people of easter island how in tune with the environment they were.

The coonskin cap is a hollywood myth. It was originally devised as a dare by producers having a piss with the persuasive power of television. That's why Boone was never seen photographed in that comical headdress.